Reflections
As an Instructional Technology teacher, I am expected to build partnerships with teachers, administrators and community to help integrate technology into classrooms. The districts vision is Equity for All, and that is what we do, provide equal access to technology and support for using the technology so that every student has the opportunity to improve their technology knowledge and skills. Therefore I see my job as a key support person that works with all stakeholders to meet our districts goals and vision.
Every ITT has a set of schools that are considered their home schools, which is often where they provide a lot of additional support. My two home schools are North Pole High School and Hutchison High School. Both of which I greatly enjoy working at, because of the atmosphere and climates at the schools.
Assessment of Technology Use in My Schools
As the primary ITT for my two home schools, I often make time to be at both schools to be a general help and support for teachers, students and administration. Generally in the morning when I arrive I will send an all staff email to let everyone know I am in the building for the day and the times that I will be available. Following the email, are several emails from a variety of people asking questions, or asking for me to be an extra set of hands in the classroom, or just support in using a piece of technology. This often means that I have to have a variety of skills to help with a variety of questions, problems or providing support for a variety of hardware or software. For example, this year I have been asked to help secretaries with fax machines and administrators with Flubaroo, email, setting up their iPad, or even designing a form for completing teacher observations.
At NPH, I had a teacher ask me to come in and help with a video project he was doing with his students, and it turned out to be excellent fun for myself and the students, not to mention a great learning opportunity for the teacher, all because I was available in the building. I have helped teachers to set up Apple Tv's and help them figure out the best technology tool to use with a project, such as the teacher I met with during lunch discussing how students could produce an audio file of their creative story. I have worked closely with librarians to support their managing and configuring of iPads, as well as the numerous questions that come up around software or hardware.
In short, I feel that my position requires a diverse set of skills in printers, computers (both PC and Mac), iPads, Apple Tv's, projectors, fax machines, document cameras, videoconference equipment, so on and so forth. As for software, I need to be flexible using Adobe products, Office products, movie and audio editing products on a variety of devices and computers. I also need to be familiar with web applications such as Google Apps, Pictochart, Powercourse, Livebinder, Canvas etc. When I am asked about something that I do not know about, I tell the person I do not know, but I would be more than happy to go find out for them. As a result of this process, I continue to gain more skills and we become a team for increasing our knowledge and skills together, and then share them back with others around us.
Finally, though I have two primary schools I work with, I do spend a large amount of time at all the other high schools and middle schools. This year my support has focused more on videoconferencing and support for CTE teachers and this has lead to new possibilities and ideas for lessons and better ways to support CTE program using technology.
Overall I feel I have been able to support a wide variety of stakeholders all focused on helping to improve student learning. And if I could improve anything, it would be to have more time to work with more teachers and students.
My Strengths as a Technology Teacher
This topic has been an endless conversation between myself and other educators. Many teachers want to know what it is like being a technology teacher and I have come to a set of ideals that I think embody a technology teachers job. These are:
Needs for Added Support
Of course with any profession, it is expected and often required that we continue to grow our knowledge and skills. As the technology support for CTE teachers I feel that I really need to spend more time with CTE folks to learn more about their skills, providing me an opportunity to help them integrate technology into their classrooms. This year I have made some head way working with construction and building teachers to use iPads for design and measuring, helping WBL teachers to use more current tools for resumes and work logs. However, I still feel I am needing to spend more time with the others I have not met with, and provide some possible ideas for them.
I also feel that I need to continue to stay abreast of current research for videoconferencing and distance delivery. Attending ASTE this year helped to rebuild connections with other schools using similar technology, so we can collaborate more and have teachers share in their experiences. But there is a great deal more to learn and attending ISTE would be a huge benefit to being able to connect with a broader audience to help build my skills as a distance delivery support teacher. In the meantime, I will continue to collaborate with other schools, research articles, and attend MOOCS and classes to increase my skill set to better support the distance delivery teachers and students.
I also feel that the course I am teaching for Para Professionals will be of great support for our support staff in our schools. It is also a great opportunity to work and collaborate with others to help the variety of problems that support staff experience, which will help to strengthen and build our distance delivery program.
Finally I feel that I need to continually monitor and assess the skills and support I give to teachers. I think the Technology Assessment is a good tool to use, but I feel I need to gather more feedback from teachers I have helped this year, which would be an end of the year feedback form. It will help me to see if teachers have practiced their skills with their students again, resulting in greater student impact and increased learning opportunities.
Every ITT has a set of schools that are considered their home schools, which is often where they provide a lot of additional support. My two home schools are North Pole High School and Hutchison High School. Both of which I greatly enjoy working at, because of the atmosphere and climates at the schools.
Assessment of Technology Use in My Schools
As the primary ITT for my two home schools, I often make time to be at both schools to be a general help and support for teachers, students and administration. Generally in the morning when I arrive I will send an all staff email to let everyone know I am in the building for the day and the times that I will be available. Following the email, are several emails from a variety of people asking questions, or asking for me to be an extra set of hands in the classroom, or just support in using a piece of technology. This often means that I have to have a variety of skills to help with a variety of questions, problems or providing support for a variety of hardware or software. For example, this year I have been asked to help secretaries with fax machines and administrators with Flubaroo, email, setting up their iPad, or even designing a form for completing teacher observations.
At NPH, I had a teacher ask me to come in and help with a video project he was doing with his students, and it turned out to be excellent fun for myself and the students, not to mention a great learning opportunity for the teacher, all because I was available in the building. I have helped teachers to set up Apple Tv's and help them figure out the best technology tool to use with a project, such as the teacher I met with during lunch discussing how students could produce an audio file of their creative story. I have worked closely with librarians to support their managing and configuring of iPads, as well as the numerous questions that come up around software or hardware.
In short, I feel that my position requires a diverse set of skills in printers, computers (both PC and Mac), iPads, Apple Tv's, projectors, fax machines, document cameras, videoconference equipment, so on and so forth. As for software, I need to be flexible using Adobe products, Office products, movie and audio editing products on a variety of devices and computers. I also need to be familiar with web applications such as Google Apps, Pictochart, Powercourse, Livebinder, Canvas etc. When I am asked about something that I do not know about, I tell the person I do not know, but I would be more than happy to go find out for them. As a result of this process, I continue to gain more skills and we become a team for increasing our knowledge and skills together, and then share them back with others around us.
Finally, though I have two primary schools I work with, I do spend a large amount of time at all the other high schools and middle schools. This year my support has focused more on videoconferencing and support for CTE teachers and this has lead to new possibilities and ideas for lessons and better ways to support CTE program using technology.
Overall I feel I have been able to support a wide variety of stakeholders all focused on helping to improve student learning. And if I could improve anything, it would be to have more time to work with more teachers and students.
My Strengths as a Technology Teacher
This topic has been an endless conversation between myself and other educators. Many teachers want to know what it is like being a technology teacher and I have come to a set of ideals that I think embody a technology teachers job. These are:
- Communicate with a diverse population, from students to administrators, to librarians and custodians.
- Have good interpersonal skills
- Teach technology to students and adults with a variety of skill levels
- Be able to market yourself and your skills
- Have strong classroom management skills from 6-12th grade to adults
- Be able to produce written documents that support a variety of levels
- Become a caretaker for those who need emotional support when using technology
- Be a collaborator and willing to build ideas together
- Be willing to make corrections and provide additional support when a lesson does not work.
- Be an assessor of your own skills and lesson implementation
- Know how to book and schedule lessons effectively and efficiently
Needs for Added Support
Of course with any profession, it is expected and often required that we continue to grow our knowledge and skills. As the technology support for CTE teachers I feel that I really need to spend more time with CTE folks to learn more about their skills, providing me an opportunity to help them integrate technology into their classrooms. This year I have made some head way working with construction and building teachers to use iPads for design and measuring, helping WBL teachers to use more current tools for resumes and work logs. However, I still feel I am needing to spend more time with the others I have not met with, and provide some possible ideas for them.
I also feel that I need to continue to stay abreast of current research for videoconferencing and distance delivery. Attending ASTE this year helped to rebuild connections with other schools using similar technology, so we can collaborate more and have teachers share in their experiences. But there is a great deal more to learn and attending ISTE would be a huge benefit to being able to connect with a broader audience to help build my skills as a distance delivery support teacher. In the meantime, I will continue to collaborate with other schools, research articles, and attend MOOCS and classes to increase my skill set to better support the distance delivery teachers and students.
I also feel that the course I am teaching for Para Professionals will be of great support for our support staff in our schools. It is also a great opportunity to work and collaborate with others to help the variety of problems that support staff experience, which will help to strengthen and build our distance delivery program.
Finally I feel that I need to continually monitor and assess the skills and support I give to teachers. I think the Technology Assessment is a good tool to use, but I feel I need to gather more feedback from teachers I have helped this year, which would be an end of the year feedback form. It will help me to see if teachers have practiced their skills with their students again, resulting in greater student impact and increased learning opportunities.